For years, I have been complaining about how I hate the watch designers of the world. They cannot create a digital watch that is both pretty and useful. In the end, I have been wearing my Armitron watch that I got for about fifteen bucks about five years ago. It has all the features that I love, but it’s ugly.
The other night, I had an idea. I would make my ugly Armitron watch beautiful. Here is the story of Watch 2.0:
Watch 1.0
I thought Watch 1.0 was a brilliant idea. I would cover my watch with Fimo clay and bake it much like the Fimo Bic pens are made. If the plastic of a Bic pen can survive the baking process, so would my watch, right? After working with the clay and the watch, for a while, Mike asked me, “Are you going to bake the watch with the clay?” I told him I was and the logic behind it, but he very intelligently noted that liquid crystal displays are much more sensitive to heat than hard plastics. I decided to take out the watch works instead, but ended up breaking the watch.
Worse still, the clay looked horrible.
Watch 1.1: Crochet
After pouting about the clay fiasco and ruining my beloved Armitron watch, I decided to try again. This time I would work in the medium that I am an expert in: crochet. Watch 1.1.1, however didn’t quite work. It looked bad and the watch was not held securely, so it fell out. Additionally, note the broken Armitron watch. Fortunately, they make the same watch to this day, so I bought a new one.
Watch 1.1.1: Looked horrible and the watch fell out.
Watch 1.1.2, was a little better. The watch was secure, but the band didn’t look quite right. It was far too thin for the thick face.
Watch 1.1.2: A little better, but still in need of refinement.
Watch 2.0: A New Stitch
I finally hit gold with Watch 2.0. I realized that a crocheted watch would need a bit more bulk, so I decided to use the Twisted Loop Stitch. Once I relinquished myself to that stitch, everything fell into place. If you would like to create a watch like this, here are some general instructions:
Materials:
Size 10 Crochet thread
Size 7 crochet needle
One Clasp Toggle
One Armitron women’s watch with the wristband removed
Front:
Chain 24 stitches
Chain 24 stitches
Connect the loop
Connect the loop
Row 2: Chain 3, 2 double crochet (DC) in the first stitch, 1 DC in 5 stitches, 3 DC in the next stitch, 1 DC in 5 stitches, 3 DC in the next stitch, 1 DC in 5 stitches, 3 DC in the next stitch, 1 DC in 5 stitches, slip stitch to connect.
Row 2
Row 2 Twisted Loop: Chain 7, single crochet around the post of the DC of Row 2, repeat for each DC stitch.
The Twisted Loop Stitch
Row 3: DC in each stitch and slip stitch to connect.
Row 3 Twisted Loop: Chain 7, single crochet around the post of the DC of Row 2, repeat for each DC stitch. Tie off when finished.
Row 3 Twisted Loop completed
Back:
Chain 6 stitches.
Row 1: Skip first stitch and single crochet (SC) in each stitch. (total of 5 stitches)
Row 2: 2 SC in first stitch, 1 SC in 3 stitches, 2 SC in last stitch (total of 7 stitches)
Row 3: 2 SC in first stitch, 1 SC in 5 stitches, 2 SC in last stitch (total of 9 stitches)
Row 4: 2 SC in first stitch, 1 SC in 7 stitches, 2 SC in last stitch (total of 11 stitches)
Row 5: 2 SC in first stitch, 1 SC in 9 stitches, 2 SC in last stitch (total of 13 stitches)
Rows 6-9: 1 SC in each stitch
Row 10: Decrease (Dec) 2 stitches, 1 SC in 9 stitches, Dec 2 stitches (total of 11 stitches)
Row 11: Decrease (Dec) 2 stitches, 1 SC in 7 stitches, Dec 2 stitches (total of 9 stitches)
Row 12: Decrease (Dec) 2 stitches, 1 SC in 5 stitches, Dec 2 stitches (total of 7 stitches)
Row 13: Decrease (Dec) 2 stitches, 1 SC in 3 stitches, Dec 2 stitches (total of 5 stitches)
Row 14: 1 SC in each stitch (total of 5 stitches)
Stitch the front to the back. It doesn’t have to be perfectly matched. If you notice, mine was a little crooked.
Full Watch 2.0 backside
Band:
Row 1: Attach to one side of the watch “case”. Chain four, 1 triple crochet (TC), 1 DC in 4 stitches, 1 TC, 1 quad-crochet. (total of 8 stitches)
Row 1 Twisted Loop: Chain 7, single crochet around the post of each stitch.
Row 2: 1 DC in 8 stitches.
Row 2 Twisted Loop: Same as Row 1.
Row 3: Dec 2 stitches, 1 DC in 4 stitches, Dec 2 stitches. (Total of 6 stitches)
Row 3 Twisted Loop: Same as Row 1.
Row 4: 1 DC in 6 stitches.
Row 4 Twisted Loop: Same as Row 1.
Row 5: Dec 2 stitches, 1 DC in 2 stitches, Dec 2 stitches. (Total of 4 stitches)
Row 5 Twisted Loop: Same as Row 1.
Row 6: 1 DC in 4 stitches.
Row 6 Twisted Loop: Same as Row 1.
Row 7: 1 DC in 4 stitches.
Row 7 Twisted Loop: Same as Row 1.
Row 8: 1 DC in 4 stitches.
Row 8 Twisted Loop: Same as Row 1.
Attach to Clasp Toggle.
Repeat for other band strap.
Full Watch 2.0 frontside
Close up of Clasp Toggle
If you try this pattern, please tell me how it went on the comments section.
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